Auxiliary device for assembling airships



Dec. 6, 1927.

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AUXILIARY DEVICE FOR ASSEMBLING AIRSHIPS Filed Sept. 5, 1922 3Sheets-Sheet 8 Patented Dec. 7 6, 19 27.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUDWIG D'URB, or rmnnmcHsHArnu-oN-rHE-Bonnnsnn,' GERMANY, nssreuo'n To 7cnsnnnscnar'r mm nnscnnfiuxrnn nnr- TUNG, orrnmnnrcnsnusu-on-rna-nonnusnn, GERMANY.

THE FIRM; LUFTSGHIFFBAU ZEPPELIN -AU'X ILIARY DEVICE FOR ASSEMBLINGAIRSHIPS.

Application filedseptember 3, 1921, Serial No.

My'invent-ion relates to an auxiliary device for assembling airships andmore partlcularly rigid airships.

.The frame of 'an airship comprises rings which at certain distances areconnected by longitudinal girders so as toform the body of the airship.The rings are assembled on the ground, braced, erected and'assembled tothe body.

As the rings are not rigid. it is very dimcult to erect and assemblethem, so that an auxiliary device or jig is necessary. The conditionswhich such a jig must fulfill, are very severe.- Above all, it should belight and rigid and at the. same time afford the' greatest possibleaccessibility to the rings According to my invention, the jig fortransporting and assembling transverse girders, rings and longitudinalgirders comprises two concentrlc rings connected to form a panel work,which rings are connected with a second pair of rings to form a.frusto-pyramidal skeleton.

The jig is made of wood, light metal, or high grade steel shapes. Bymeans of it, the airship body can readily and rapidly be assembled andany undue stressing of the rings is avoided.

The rings are, as heretofore, assembled from shapes on the ground, thenengaged by the jig and erected or brought to the lace of assembly. Here,the rings with the ig are raised by a crane running on .rails suspendedfrom the roof girders of the shed and brought to that end of the bodywhere 3 it is to be assembled. The jig remains connected with the ringuntil the longitudinal girders have been assembled.

2A plurality of rings may be attached to a ig.

It is important that the jig should be able to adapt itself to thevarious ring diameters of an airship. With this object in view, bracketsare formed on the jig or afurther ring is secured to it. 1

A suitable construction of the jig is the form of a ring, the form of atrapeze as the cross-section of the ring having the advantage that theone front edge has a great surface in combination with lightest weightso that rings of widely vary'ng diameters may be attached to the jig.

. Preferably, the base of the frusto-p ramidal jig is composed ofconcentric po ygons view, respectively/of a prismatic,

. movement of the after the stiffening effect of the of the airship body35 as indicated b 498,574, and in Germany September 10, 1920.

which are adapted to the shape of the airships body.

In the drawings aiiixed to this specifica tion and forming part thereof,two modifications embodying .my invention are illustrateddiagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawingsv j Figs. 1 and'2 are an elevation and end and aresimilar views of a frustobut partly broken up.

6 are elevation and front views,

Figs. 3 and 4 pyramidal jig.

Figs. 5 and respectively, and 4 but with radially extending supportsreaching outwardly from the main structure of the jig, thereby making itserviceable for larger rings.

Fig. 6' is partly broken up.

Figs. 7 8 and 9 are side views of the hull of an airship in state oferection. In Fig. 7 the jig j is in horizontal position with rings 1"attached toit. The arrow shows the will bring jig and rings in uprightposition.

In Fig. 8 this vertical position is attained and the arrow indicatesthat jig and rings have still to be lifted until the ring most to theleft is in proper position for assembly to the hull structure H.

- Fig. 9 shows'how this ring is connected to the longitudinal girders ofthe hull wherejig becomes superfluous.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the jig comprises two outer rings aand-two inner rings 6 which are combined to form an annular skeleton byrods 0 and bracings d. To this skeleton, the several rings are securedby ropes or other suitable means. The rings are secured to the skeletonat the place where they are assembled. The jig serves for carrying therings to the place of assembly. In Fig. lit is shown suspended from apulley g on a rail by means of ropes f. The jig is driven toward the endthe arrow where the rin s are assemble and connected by 'longitudmalgirders 7c.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, the jig is frusto-pyramidal in shape andcomprises two pairs of rings Z and m which are connected by radial andaxialiods n and braces 0. For rings of greater ia eter, for instance,those at the central ports of a jig like that of Figures 3 lower end ofpulley 2 which noftheairship, supports 29 may be attached to the out-'side of the jig, which mayeither be independent brackets or the like ormaybe combined to form a skeleton, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. 1' are therings to beassembled which, as in the modification illustrated in Figs.1 and 2, may be secured to the jig by any suitable means such as ropesor straps.

I wish it to be understood that I do not dcsiredto be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for ob viousmodifications'will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. Assembling device for the rings of airship hulls, comprising twopairs of concentric rings, stays and bracing Wires connecting said ringsto form a panel-work frame.

.tric polygonal rings and stays and bracing wires uniting said rings toform a panel- -work frame of frusto-pyramidal dlagonal section.

3. Assembling device for the rings of airrigid airship, which consistsin first assembling a ring in a substantially horizontal plane, infastening said ring temporarily to a jig which is safe againstdistortion, in erecting said jig together with said ring intosubstantially vertical position, in connecting said ring to-thelongitudinal girders of said hull, and in disconnecting said jig fromsaid ring.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

DR. LUDWIG DURR.

